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Several bacteriophages contain toxin genes that become incorporated into the host bacteria genome through infection and render the bacteria toxic. [9] Many well known bacterial toxins are produced from specific strains of the bacteria species that have obtained toxigenicity through lysogenic conversion, pseudolysogeny, or horizontal gene ...
Shiga toxins are a family of related toxins with two major groups, Stx1 and Stx2, expressed by genes considered to be part of the genome of lambdoid prophages. [1] The toxins are named after Kiyoshi Shiga, who first described the bacterial origin of dysentery caused by Shigella dysenteriae. [2]
The toxins interact with intestinal epithelium and can cause systematic complications in humans like HUS and cerebral dysfunction if they enter the circulation. [13] In EHEC, Shiga toxins are encoded by lysogenic bacteriophages. The toxins bind to cell-surface glycolipid receptor Gb3, which causes the cell to take the toxin in via endocytosis.
Another effect from this bacterial infection is hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is a condition characterized by destruction of red blood cells, that over a long period of time can cause kidney failure. [13] Some common symptoms of HUS are vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and blood in the urine. [12]
Infection by the Epstein–Barr virus, for example, is known to cause production of a SAg in infected cells, yet no gene for the toxin has been found on the genome of the virus. The virus manipulates the infected cell to express its own SAg genes, and this helps it to evade the host immune system.
Toxin-antitoxin systems could prevent harmful large deletions in a bacterial genome, though arguably deletions of large coding regions are fatal to a daughter cell regardless. [11] In Vibrio cholerae , multiple type II toxin-antitoxin systems located in a super-integron were shown to prevent the loss of gene cassettes.
The toxins, named mycotoxins, deter other organisms from consuming the food the fungi colonise. As with bacterial toxins, there is a wide array of fungal toxins. Arguably one of the more dangerous mycotoxins is aflatoxin produced by certain species of the genus Aspergillus (notably A. flavus). If ingested repeatedly, this toxin can cause ...
Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a condition caused by bacterial toxins. [1] Symptoms may include fever, rash, skin peeling, and low blood pressure. [1] There may also be symptoms related to the specific underlying infection such as mastitis, osteomyelitis, necrotising fasciitis, or pneumonia. [1]